Women's suffrage is in full swing by the time Ursula is born in Life After Life, and she finds herself caught between two schools of thought: one that eschews the whole concept of school and thought, believing instead that a woman's place is as a wife and mother, and another that believes women should be educated, intellectual, and hold the same positions as men. It's quite a spectrum, and Ursula finds herself living different lives from one extreme to the other, and everything in between.
Questions About Women and Femininity
- How do Sylvie's and Izzie's attitudes toward feminism differ? Are there ways in which they overlap? Why do you think this is?
- How do Sylvie's traditional attitudes toward female gender roles affect her daughters, especially Ursula during her different lives?
- Is Ursula a feminist? Is Pamela? Is Izzie? Why or why not?
- How do women's roles change during the course of the novel, mainly as a result of war?